Some Detroit Lions fans didn’t respond well to how wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown reacted to their initial thoughts on the hiring of Drew Petzing as the team’s new offensive coordinator.
In summary, St. Brown told the Lions fan base to “relax” but with a patronizing tone.
On Friday, former Lions Pro Bowl offensive guard T.J. Lang joined the group criticizing St. Brown over his comments.
“When you try to insult the fans’ intelligence, that’s just a lose-lose,” Lang said on 97.1 The Ticket, via SI on Lions’ Christian Booher. “I guess I have two problems. The first one is, unless Amon-Ra has a forum every week with every Lions fan and you can get a grip on every single fan’s opinion on what they think the team is doing, you’re responding to social media that isn’t real.
“And you’re responding to what’s probably 90 percent B.S. These people are trolling you, man, they’re trying to get you riled up.”
Lang then emphasized again how St. Brown crossed a line with insulting and going “after the fans’ intelligence.”
“You have to read the room, these are passionate fans,” Lang explained. “You guys have built this team into being relevant again, and what comes with that is these fans are going to be more involved.
“They’re gonna feel more involved than they ever have been in the last 50 years. They’re going to be more in tune with every single thing you do.
“Every single move this organization makes is gonna be scrutinized by a lot of people, and you know what? That’s a good thing, because that means people are attached.”
What Amon-Ra St. Brown Said About Lions Fans
St. Brown wasn’t really wrong with the part he said about the fan reaction to Petzing. When the Lions hired him as offensive coordinator on January 19, the overall social media reaction seemed to be negative.
St. Brown basically argued on his podcast to give the new Detroit play-caller a chance.
But Lang wasn’t wrong with his assessment of St. Brown’s comments either. Social media reaction can often convince people that one opinion is held by an entire fan base, and that’s usually never the case.
St. Brown could have also been far less condescending in his tone.
“I see crazy Lions fans talking crazy,” said St. Brown on the St. Brown Bros. Podcast, via SI on Lions’ John Maakaron. “Like, ‘Oh, why do we do this?’ Like bro, do you guys have no trust in Dan? Or in the Lions. Like, did they just hire a random dude, like for real? You think they don’t know what they’re doing? They don’t do their research?
“Like most of you guys don’t know really much about anything, about any ball, and you’re tweeting about a coach that was hired that you guys don’t like because of XYZ.”
Lions Have a New Offensive Coordinator in Drew Petzing
There’s another flaw in St. Brown’s argument. It doesn’t take much research to find reasons to doubt the Petzing hire.
In three seasons as Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator, Petzing’s unit never finished inside the top 10 in scoring or yards. During 2025, the Cardinals were 19th in yards and 23rd in points.
There’s hope Petzing could be the next Ben Johnson. Petzing is still a young play-caller, and he worked with the previously successful Lions OC early in his coaching career.
Petzing will also have far more talent to use in Detroit than he did in Arizona. Journeyman Jacoby Brissett was his quarterback for most of last season.
Still, the NFL is a results-driven basis. Given that the Lions offensive coordinator role was a coveted position this offseason, it was surprising Detroit didn’t hire an offensive play-caller with more proven results.
St. Brown better hope Petzing has much better results with the Lions, or fans aren’t likely to forget his podcast remarks from this past week.
Ex-Lions Pro Bowler Fires Warning to Amon-Ra St. Brown Over OC Hire Fan Reaction